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Porsche‘s Cayenne Turbo, BMW‘s X6M, and Mercedes‘ ML63 are a hit with buyers. They’re big, comfortable, and most of all, fast. But they’re in for a shock. There’s a new kid in town, a true off-road super ute.

As I drift around a field for what feels like the 150th time, laughing like a maniac and plowing four huge ruts in the soil, it occurs to me that the Bowler Nemesis EXR might just be the most innovative supercar on the road. Or off it.

Independent rally raider Drew Bowler’s home-brewed creations were a constant thorn in the side of the works teams on the infamous Dakar Rally and other brutal long-distance rallies. Eventually fellow competitors asked him to build cars for them, and Bowler Offroad was born.

The Nemesis is the third race-bred model in the lineup, and the EXR is the company’s first road car. And while it might look like a heavily modified Range Rover Sport upon which its loosely based, underneath it is nothing of the sort. That is clear the first time I fire up the 500-horsepower supercharged five-liter and fire the car down the field Drew has set aside for this unconventional test.

The acceleration, even on this surface, is borderline insane. On tarmac it hits 62 mph in 3.9 seconds, just a couple of ticks behind the Lamborghini LP560-4. And even on this track it isn’t much slower, as the 22-inch wheels find their footing and the blown V-8 slings roughly 3850 pounds of Spartan warrior towards the horizon. With 461 pound-feet of torque it really doesn’t need the revs. Just plant the throttle and it takes off.

Stones hit the floor like a violent volleys of machine-gun fire, and the engine note roars around the cabin, which contains a dashboard, plush leather-trimmed race seats, and not much else. There’s some prototype trim, and Bowler intends to offer any level of comfort, from a stripped weekend warrior on rally spec suspension to a fully appointed luxury car that sits more than 2 inches lower than the Rover Sport and comes replete with leather and aluminum and copious sound-deadening. It also comes with a lower-slung bodykit. All of those options add weight and slow the car down, though, and there’s something deeply satisfying about this hooligan spec machine.

The car squashes the surface of this recently harvested field. Any normal car would shake itself to bits, but this is child’s play for the Nemesis EXR and it crosses ruts like we’re running on a glass-smooth racetrack. And then we arrive at the turning point and with a quick flick the whole ute is fully broadside, churning mud in every direction as it pulls through the bend at a simply stupid speed.

The rally diff binds up a little early and kicks the back out, but the final car will come with a full electronic diff to allow a little rear-drive style slip before the fronts kick in and drag the car straight.

Underneath the twin plastic layers of bodywork is a full tubular spaceframe chassis and FIA-approved rollcage. It could be lighter, but cars crash hard on the Dakar Rally, and yet only two Bowler Wildcats have ever been written off. Even the radiators sit well back, to protect the critical parts from accident damage, so it should drive away from anything short of a head-on collision with a truck.

The engine sits about 16-inches further back and 12-inches lower than it does in the Range Rover Sport, balancing out the chassis and making the most of the 1.6-inch wider track. Although the passenger footwell is seriously reduced by the V-8 encroaching into the cabin, it’s worth it for the sheer poise the EXR displays on slippery bends.

Again and again I blast up and down the field, and though it’s the braking zones that fill me with fear at the start, that doesn’t last long. The EXR uses standard Range Rover Sport brakes, but weighs almost 1500 pounds less, so the monumental Brembo kit is more than up to the job. Somehow the tires grip when fully locked up and shed the speed in time to simply throw the car into the corner, get back on the power, and start another lurid slide.

Other small tweaks include the gearbox, as Bowler has worked hard to ensure the automatic 6-speed now holds the gear right to redline. On the road or field this is fun, and there’s no danger of the car flicking between gears mid-slide, which in the white heat of battle could prove disastrous. The top speed of 140 mph is in his sights, too, but some electronic tweaking and further attention to the ratios should see that comfortably rise beyond 170 mph.

I slide round that field until the car runs almost dry, a flashing dash finally alerting me that it’s time for more fuel.Drew fills it up and we roll off the field onto the road for part two.

Of course this is a prototype, so there’s the odd rattle and bang, and Drew warns me in advance that the rally diff is too loud for relaxed road driving. And it is, but then if you’ve gone for the hard-core setup, you’ll have to sacrifice comfort for the off-road fun.

But our brief run on the road shows a car that could easily handle the daily rigors of town driving. With no ground clearance to worry about, I can vault over speed humps, ruts and curbs that would rip the front end off a similarly powered Gallardo or 911 Turbo.

The suspension has to keep the car straight and level on full opposite lock in the desert, too, so it carries the EXR through corners at stupid speeds. In full road spec it set the fastest time in the supercar category at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, not bad for a car that’s meant for off-roading.

It is, as Drew puts it, a usable supercar for those with the funds for the Lamborghinis and Ferraris but who find themselves using a Cayenne or X6M for the weekly toil. This car can go anywhere, anytime, and can do it seriously quickly. And if you tick the rally suspension box, then you’ll get the ultimate Dakar Rally-bred dune jumping monster, a real-world Tonka Toy and the ultimate fast SUV. The Cayenne, X6M and Mercedes ML63 should be very afraid indeed.

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